Helping people bring the beauty and joy of original art into their daily lives.
All reproduction rights reserved, copyright Jan Blencowe 2008. NO images on this website may be reproduced in any manner without express written permission from Jan Blencowe.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Marsh at Sunset- Contemporary Impressionism

Marsh at Sunset, 30x20, acrylic

Look for this painting in my ad in the September issue of American Art Collector Magazine! Several people have asked me how I get that warm, rosey glow in my sunset paintings, and I'm happy to share my method. For quite a while now I've begun my paintings with a loose under-painting done entirely with transparent red oxide. This is painted on linen which has a lovely texture for landscape work, and because this pigment is transparent it allows the white of the primed linen to show through the color, just as in watercolors. I'm working here with Chroma Interactive Arylics. I mix some of their Fast Medium into the paint so the underpainitng is dry in a matter of minutes allowing me to begin overpainting in color immediately. The trick is to decide where you want the underpainting to show through for a light effect and then resist the urge to cover every inch of the canvas with new colors. The texture of the linen also helps to diffuse the edges of the paint stroke and you can get a dry brush effect over the under-painting which also allows a lot of the warm color of the transparent red oxide to show through. Using the transparent red oxide underpainting in combination with a reddish purple in the water and sky is also particularly effective for getting a sunset, (or sunrise for that matter), glow.

She sweeps with many-colored brooms,

And leaves the shreds behind;

Oh, housewife in the evening west,

Come back, and dust the pond!

You dropped a purple ravelling in,

You dropped an amber thread;

And now you've littered all the East With duds of emerald!

And still she plies her spotted brooms,

And still the aprons fly,

Till brooms fade softly into stars

And then I come away.

Emily Dickinson

Here's an art related analysis of this charming Dickinson poem found I found at Yahoo! Answers:

Dickenson is referring to "painting the landscape" with all the colors of the sunset as she "sweeps with many colored brooms". The brooms don't represent anything in particular other than a broad paint brush to paint the landscape with all the colors of nature - she refers to emeralds, amber, pearl and so on, and these are the colors found in a sunset.1 year agoSource(s):She Sweeps with Many Colored Brooms", Emily Dickenson, quoted in http://www.about.com/poetry

No comments:

Visit Me On

How to Purchase

If you'd like to purchase a painting simply e-mail me at jan.blencowe@comcast.net. Painting prices begin at $100 for a 6x8 in., and price increases with size. Shipping is calculated based on the paintings size. All paintings are unframed, allowing you to have them framed according to your tastes, decor and budget. Pay safely and easily through Paypal.

About Me

There are so many things I'm passionate about, but they all find there way into my art. Nature, animals, the land, the cycle of the seasons, simple things, gardens, snow at midnight, peepers in spring, butterflies in August, autumn leaves and the love of the Creator.

I'm in the MiniTop50

My Favorite Quotes

Painting is the most beautiful of all arts. In it, all sensations are condensed; contemplating it, everyone can create a story at the will of his imagination and.. with a single glance.. have his soul invaded by the most profound recollections; no effort of memory, everything is summed up in one instant. A complete art which sums up all the others and completes them.

Paul Gauguin

Visit my page at MyArtProfile.com

My Website

A magic window into my website! Use the scroll bars to take a look around. It's live, so clicking on any tab will take you directly to my website.